McNeese MFA Graduate’s First Poetry Collection Published

McNeese State University 2016 Master of Fine Arts graduate Dorsey Craft has had her first poetry collection, “Plunder,” published by Bauhan Publishing.

Craft, who also earned her Master of Arts degree in English at McNeese, is currently finishing her fourth year in the creative writing doctoral program at Florida State University, where she teaches introduction to poetry, poetry workshop and composition to undergraduate students.

Intended to be her dissertation at FSU, “Plunder” includes poems from the perspective of the famous 18^th century pirate Anne Bonny – both about events that might have happened in the woman’s life and more imaginative scenes, like Bonny playing video games with the author or speaking with famous literary female figures such as Jane Eyre. These alternate with poems from a 20^th century woman’s perspective to explore themes about gender and femininity.

The collection is also the winner of the May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize.

“McNeese was such a great place to grow,” says Craft. “I can’t say enough nice things about MFA program director Amy Fleury. She’s so kind and a wonderful teacher, a very gentle voice in the workshop, and my work just grew and grew through her nudges.”

“Dorsey’s poetry is fresh and bracing and beautiful,” says Fleury. “Plunder is a gorgeous book, and it bears all the evidence of Dorsey’s ambition and attention to craft. It is such a pleasure when former students succeed by transmuting their vision and words through hard work into something wonderful to share with the world. It is a gift to have a little part in that process.”

Craft received her bachelor’s degree in English from Clemson University. She is also the author of a chapbook, “The Pirate Anne Bonny Dances the Tarantella,” and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review, Colorado Review, Gulf Coast, Massachusetts Review, Poetry Daily, Southern Indiana Review and Thrush Poetry Journal. She is also currently a poetry editor at Southeast Review. 

“Plunder” is available for purchase through Amazon and other booksellers.